No. 1 Duke Defeats NC State, 93-64; Clinches 22nd ACC Regular-Season Title

Monday, March 2

Raleigh, NC

7 p.m.

Duke University

28-2,16-1ACC

NC State

19-11,10-7ACC

Duke

NC State

No. 1 Duke Defeats NC State, 93-64; Clinches 22nd ACC Regular-Season Title

3/2/2026 9:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)

RALEIGH, N.C. – No. 1 Duke defeated NC State, 93-64, at the Lenovo Center on Monday, March 2. With the win, the Blue Devils (28-2, 16-1 ACC) secured their second consecutive outright ACC regular-season title and the program's 22nd overall. Cameron Boozer led all scorers with 26 points, while also grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.

Dame Sarr put up 16 points, including 14 in the first half, fueled by three triples, which matched his career high. The freshman also grabbed eight rebounds, also matching his career high. Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba II rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Caleb Foster stuffed the stat sheet with six points, four rebounds and seven assists, giving the junior back-to-back games with at least six assists for the first time in his career.

As a team, Duke dished 21 assists on 32 made field goals and outrebounded NC State, 43-32. On defense, the Blue Devils limited the Wolfpack to 7-of-29 (.241) from beyond the arc, their second-lowest shooting percentage from deep all season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

NC State began the game with a dunk on the first possession of the night and Caleb Foster answered with a layup on Duke's first offensive possession. A pair of three-pointers gave NC State an early lead, 8-4, three minutes into the game.
Dame Sarr answered with back-to-back triples of his own to put Duke back in front, 10-8, shortly before the first media timeout. The teams continued to trade three-pointers, with Evans adding a pair from deep to help Duke remain in front, 18-16, with 11:32 remaining in the first half.
Darren Harris continued the strong three-point showing, connecting on a corner triple to extend the Blue Devils' lead to six, 24-18. Duke's defense bristled as the first half continued, holding the Wolfpack without a made field goal for over three minutes.
The Blue Devils' lead grew to as large as 14, 38-24, before two free throws by the Wolfpack snapped Duke's stretch of nine unanswered points. Cameron Boozer moved into double-figures with a contested layup that gave the freshman 11 first-half points.
Sarr made his third three-pointer of the first half, followed by Nikolas Khamenia from deep as the first half expired, to send Duke into the break with a 47-30 lead.
The Blue Devils opened the second frame with six quick points, moving their lead over 20 for the first time, 53-30.
Duke continued to remain in control as the second half clock ticked towards the halfway mark, leading 67-44, after a free throw from Patrick Ngongba II. A three-point play from Boozer gave him 21 points and increased the Blue Devils' lead to 25, 76-51, with 8:39 on the clock.
The Blue Devils used an 11-0 run to capture its biggest lead of the game, up 32 points at 87-55 with 3:02 remaining.

NOTES

With the win, Duke clinched the outright ACC regular-season championship, its second outright regular-season title in as many seasons.
- This is the 22nd time the Blue Devils have earned at least a share of the ACC regular-season crown.
- This is the first time Duke has captured back-to-back ACC regular-season championships since winning five in-a-row from 1996-2001.
Head coach Jon Scheyer improved his head-coaching record to 117-24, matching Butler's Brad Stevens for the most by a Division I coach in their first four seasons.
The Blue Devils moved to 28-2 to start the season, their best stretch to open a season since beginning the 1998-99 campaign at 29-1.
The Blue Devils lead the all-time series against NC State, 154-105, including an 11-8 advantage at the Lenovo Center.
- Monday marked Duke's 50th overall win when playing the Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C., holding a 50-44 record.
Duke is 19-11 when playing on March 2.
- The Blue Devils have won six of their last seven games played on this date.
Monday's game was Duke's 295th played when ranked No. 1 in the country, ahead of UCLA's 257 for the best total all-time (since 1949).
- Duke is 253-42 when ranked No. 1 in the country.
- Since 1998, the Blue Devils have played 193 games as the top-ranked team, more than twice as many as the next best tally (84 by North Carolina), with a record of 163-30 in those contests.
Duke held the lead at halftime, 47-30, its 15th consecutive game holding a lead after 20 minutes.
- The 15 straight games marks Duke's longest such stretch since the 2014-15 season. (Stats Perform)
The Blue Devils dished 21 total assists, their 10th game this season with at least 20 dimes and second in the last three games.
The Wolfpack entered Monday's game averaging 84.2 points per game, but were held to 64, 20.2 below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of their 30 opponents below their scoring average.
- NC State was held under 70 points for just the third time this season.
Entering Monday, Duke topped the ACC and ranked sixth nationally for rebounding margin (+10.3).
- The Blue Devils outrebounded NC State by 11 (43-32) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 26 games this season.
Duke began the game leading the league, and ranked second nationally, for scoring margin (+20.3).
- The Blue Devils defeated NC State by 29 points, outpacing their season average for scoring margin.
- The 29-point win is Duke's largest in the Lenovo Center and the largest in the overall series since winning by 39 (99-60) on Jan. 28, 1967.
NC State entered Monday ranked 13th in the country for 3-point shooting percentage (.386).
- The Blue Devils defense stifled the Wolfpack shooting from deep, limiting the hosts to just 7-of-29 (.241) from beyond the arc.
- 24.1 percent is NC State's second-lowest percentage from beyond the arc this season.
Cameron Boozer scored 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished three assists.
- The freshman became the second Duke player in the last 30 seasons to have at least five rebounds in each of his first 30 career games, joining Marvin Bagley III. (Stats Perform)
- Boozer has logged at least 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in all 30 games this season, the longest such streak by any player (men's or women's) at any point in a Division I career this century. (OptaSTATS)
Dame Sarr scored 14 first-half points en route to 16 total points, matching his career high for makes from beyond the arc with three.
- Sarr also matched his career high for rebounds with eight.
Isaiah Evans shot 4-of-8 on three-pointers, finishing with 12 total points.
- When Evans makes at least three three-pointers, Duke is 15-0 this season and 26-0 in his career.
Patrick Ngongba II rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while also grabbing five rebounds.
- Ngongba's scoring effort at NC State is the 21st time he's tallied double figures in his two years as a Blue Devil - all Duke victories.
Caleb Foster contributed across the stat sheet, with six points, four rebounds and seven assists.
- Foster has dished at least six assists in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

QUOTES

"I'm really proud of this team. To win the ACC outright, 28 wins at this point in the year. Just their professionalism, their approach, they've been an absolute joy to coach. We talked about after Saturday, it's great to get a share [of the ACC]. That means a lot. But let's get this thing outright. Coach [Will] Wade, he's a really good coach, and we knew we could see some different things. Tonight, they went zone, and I thought we did a really good job of just handling that. Not right away, but our guys really worked through it. We put nine guys on the floor that impact winning, and I'm proud to see the individual growth of everybody on the team, but also just how they've come together. I think we're really connected, and what they're doing is incredible. Proud of everybody in the locker room, our staff, our fans, everybody that's been on this journey with us. Obviously, we've got a long way to go here, but really proud of this team." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer

UP NEXT

No. 1 Duke (28-2, 16-1 ACC) returns home to close the regular season against No. 17 North Carolina (23-6, 11-5 ACC). The Blue Devils and Tar Heels will tip off at 6:30 p.m., live on ESPN.

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